Resurrecting Media Imperialism 1 
Resurrecting Media Imperialism1
Colin Sparks 2
Hong Kong Baptist University sparksc@hkbu.edu.hk Abstract
This paper makes the case for the re-instatement of a theory of cultural and media imperialism in discussions of international communication. The paper briefly restates the “classical” theory of cultural imperialism as outlined by Schiller and other authors. It reviews and accepts some of the main criticisms that led to the rejection of that approach during the 1980s.
Contemporary theories of imperialism are considered and it is argued that the version which best explains contemporary and likely forthcoming international conflicts is one that formulates the problem in a different way to that which underlay Schiller’s account. In particular, the central dynamic of imperialism is the relationship between competing imperial powers, rather than the relationship between imperial centre and dominated periphery. In the light of this revised theory, the cultural consequences of imperialism are revisited and the likely shape of future cultural and media conflicts is discussed. 1
Manuscript presented to the Global Communication and Social change Division for the annual International
Communication Association Conference in Phoenix, held on 24-28 May 2012.
2
Colin Sparks is Professor of Media Studies in the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Introduction
The concept of cultural imperialism dominated thinking about international communication in the 1970s and early 1980s. Subsequently, it has been thoroughly discredited and more or less fallen out of mainstream usage. Writers ready to engage with theoretical issues involved in the concept of imperialism are today relatively few (Louw, 2011). While there are some more or less casual uses of the concept in studies of the media, and it retains a surprisingly vigorous life in other fields like linguistics, in most specialist studies it is firmly relegated to a discussion of the history of media and
Colin Sparks 2
Hong Kong Baptist University sparksc@hkbu.edu.hk Abstract
This paper makes the case for the re-instatement of a theory of cultural and media imperialism in discussions of international communication. The paper briefly restates the “classical” theory of cultural imperialism as outlined by Schiller and other authors. It reviews and accepts some of the main criticisms that led to the rejection of that approach during the 1980s.
Contemporary theories of imperialism are considered and it is argued that the version which best explains contemporary and likely forthcoming international conflicts is one that formulates the problem in a different way to that which underlay Schiller’s account. In particular, the central dynamic of imperialism is the relationship between competing imperial powers, rather than the relationship between imperial centre and dominated periphery. In the light of this revised theory, the cultural consequences of imperialism are revisited and the likely shape of future cultural and media conflicts is discussed. 1
Manuscript presented to the Global Communication and Social change Division for the annual International
Communication Association Conference in Phoenix, held on 24-28 May 2012.
2
Colin Sparks is Professor of Media Studies in the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University.
Introduction
The concept of cultural imperialism dominated thinking about international communication in the 1970s and early 1980s. Subsequently, it has been thoroughly discredited and more or less fallen out of mainstream usage. Writers ready to engage with theoretical issues involved in the concept of imperialism are today relatively few (Louw, 2011). While there are some more or less casual uses of the concept in studies of the media, and it retains a surprisingly vigorous life in other fields like linguistics, in most specialist studies it is firmly relegated to a discussion of the history of media and